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Sarox looked around his surroundings as the planet bloomed to life. The desert they were standing on grew greens within seconds, and soon they were standing on a the grandest meadow he had ever seen.
"It's so beautiful," the words escaped his mouth in whispers.
Max and Linus drew back their hands.
"See? This is how beautiful the world around us could be," Max told Linus.
The boy grinned and nodded, all enmity between was now gone. Max turned around to face Sarox.
"Sarox, thank you."
Sarox shrugged. "I haven't done anything."
"Yes, you have. You encouraged me to keep on dreaming, and to be a better dreamer. I can see now that my job isn't just to dream, but to protect other people's dreams. And you showed me all of that. So thank you."
Sarox reached over his shoulder and brushed the hair on the back of his head with a combined sense of pride and embarrassment. The sound of engine drew their attention, and they all looked in the same direction to find Mr. Electric blasting propelling energy off his feet to surf through the air. And he did not look happy.
Sarox noticed his body was covered by an abnormal puff of black smoke. Mr. Electric landed about fifty yards away from their location with a loud thump. His eyes fully concentrated on Max and Linus.
"Be careful, something's not right," Sarox warned them.
"I know," Max acknowledged, and held up his Keyblade.
Linus was the only one without a weapon, but he did not step back. "Mr. Electric is the one who walked me through everything. He came to me in my sleep and told me all about destroying your dreams. That I could take your power for myself."
"That's right!" Mr. Electric admitted. "So why're you standing there? You were this-" He pressed his claws close to each other. "- close. I taught you how to destroy his dreams. Now, do it! Take that little runt's dreams and crush 'em."
Linus shook his head. "No. No more. I don't want to go destroying people's dreams anymore. I will return it to Max."
Mr. Electric's expression hardened. He looked truly angry now. Then, in that short second, the round screen displaying his face flickered. Sarox didn't have time to see it properly, because it disappeared too fast, but there was no mistake. The symbol of Heartless was there.
"Then I will have to destroy you both as well!" His claws charged with energy and fired.
Sarox rushed to their side and cast the Reflect spell. The attack hit the protective shield, which retaliated with an explosion. Mr. Electric cackled once, and attacked again. This time Max acted. He pointed his blade to the ground, caused a wall to raise from beneath and blocked the blast with it.
Sarox gave him a proud grin.
"Nice."
Max smiled back.
"Watch out!" Linus screamed.
Sarox and Max turned their attention to Linus, then back to Mr. Electric when another blast came at them. Sarox raised his weapon again to block, but not fast enough to block it all. The impact sent them both flying several feet back with a hard landing.
Sarox heard Mr. Electric's cackle through all the pain in his back and his head. It was infuriating to hear. He pushed himself up to a sitting position. Max did the same thing, too. From his peripheral vision, Sarox saw Max's expression match his own, and knew he was angry as well. The robot was bouncing around now, waving his arms up in the air. As if he had won a game. A game in combat.
Too early for the victory dance, Sarox thought.
He pushed himself up and offered Max a hand. Linus rushed to their side.
Mr. Electric stopped dancing.
"Aw, ya gonna gang up on me? What'cha gonna do? Blink your eyes and will me to disappear? Ain't gonna be that easy, I'm afraid. Where there's someone who dreams up the lightbulb, there's someone who dreams up the atom bomb. You will never get rid of me. In fact-" The darkness that was flowing out of him intensified. "I'm gonna to make sure you never get out of this dream!"
Oh, this is not good.
The darkness intensified tenfold and exploded, engulfing Mr. Electric in a black vortex. The boys blocked their visions from the wind followed by the force. When it stopped, Mr. Electric was replaced by a cyborg-looking Heartless, with the typical emblem beneath the face-screen.
"I should have known," Sarox said. "He's a Heartless. No wonder he's so powerful. He was probably looking to use Linus's darkness to get to Max and then devour both your hearts."
"Why?" Max and Linus asked in unison.
Sarox had to think for a moment before he came up with the answer.
"Heartless collect hearts. The stronger the heart, the more they'll be drawn to it. He probably wanted Max's heart because he could sense your potential as a Keyblade master. And Linus's anger and jealousy made him the best weapon to corrupt it."
The Heartless form of Mr. Electric - Lucid Atom - readied to strike. But a powerful strike from behind sent it high up in the air. It sailed through the air, over the three boys' heads and landed several yards behind them.
Sarox looked back and saw the rest of their team make their way to them, minus Lavagirl and Max G.
"Are you guys all right?" Marlene asked, her eyes on Sarox.
Their eyes intently locked on each other.
"Yeah," Max answered in his stead, but she did not sway her glance away from him.
"Thank you," Sarox answered.
Someone tapped Sarox's shoulder and finally drew his attention.
"Guys, I don't mean to interrupt," Sarox recognized the voice as Sharkboy's before properly seeing his face. "But we're in the middle of a battle with that thing over there."
Marlene took a step past Sarox. "What is that?"
"Mr. Electric!" Max confirmed.
"MAX!" someone yelled from behind.
They looked over their shoulders and saw Tobor's eyes and mouth sailing through the sky toward them. Lavagirl stood on top of one of his eyeballs, while Max G stood on the other. They jumped down as soon as they were close enough.
"Thanks, Tobor!" Lavagirl said, waving as Tobor flew away.
She turned to Max. Her smile was honest. "Max, I'm light. Thank you."
Max shrugged. "You were always that. It had nothing to do with me."
"But now I know. So thank you."
"Okay, guys," PJ called. "I hate to break this lovely moment, but we have to defeat Mr. Electric."
Max G's eyes widened and his jaw fell open.
"That's Mr. Electric?!"
"His Heartless form," Sarox clarified.
The monster held out its hands and blasted. Max G rushed to the front and blocked the attack with his shield. The electrical attack collided and generated an explosion that would have knocked him several feet back. But he stood in place.
"Nicely done, Max," Sarox complimented. His friend's shield was powerful enough to blocked any direct attack. "Everyone. Let's do this!"
Lavagirl fired at the Heartless. Their blasts of fiery lava and electricity collided and tangled in a dangerous struggle. A sound of click echoed from Lucid Atom, then within a second, missiles flew out from behind the Heartless's back. The missiles shot straight up into the sky, maneuvered in midair for a moment in circular motions and then descended to the ground. Right towards them.
Sarox fought the stress clung to his mind, threatening to cloud his swift thinking, and raised the Keyblade to cast a shielding spell.
"Go away!" he heard Max scream.
The flying missiles continued to fly in their direction, and then suddenly they vanished. Just like that. Poof. Even the stream and smells of chemical smoke were nowhere to be found. As if they were never there. Sarox looked over his shoulder to Max, who had his Keyblade point up, the blade beaming with pulsing light.
He slowly lowered his weapon, his determined gaze focused on the monster. It was then Sarox realized that Lavagirl and Lucid Atom had stopped their blasting.
"This may be the influence of a Heartless, but it can't endanger this planet no more," said a confident Max. "I will not let you endanger my dream, or anyone else's." He pointed his glowing weapon at the monster. "And I swear on everything that I am to protect those dreams, and the world we live in. You will not destroy anything for as long as I live."
Sharkboy's and Lavagirl's bodies glowed. Everyone else gasped in shock. Lucid Atom spasmed, shielded its face with its claws, and took several steps back. It was clearly vulnerable to the light.
"What's happening?" Marlene asked.
"Max's power is being transferred into Sharkboy and Lavagirl," Max G explained. "They're originated from his dreams, so when he dreams about protecting the world..." he trailed off.
"They get the power to protect it alongside him," Linus finished.
Max looked to his dream comrades. Sharkboy and Lavagirl nodded. Then the three of them stood together in a line and aimed with Keyblade and hands. All three released a united beam of light. The Heartless spasmed uncontrollably and exploded. The remains fell to the ground, then vaporized.
Max shared victorious smiles with his two comrades. PJ and Max G cheered. Sarox and Marlene wrapped around each other in a tight embrace. Linus and Max shook hands.
"Thanks for showing me the way, Max," said Linus.
Max nodded. "Anytime."
"Max!" A newcomer. They turned around to see the Ice Princess. She was smiling.
"You've done it," she complimented. "You have salvaged this world and your dreams. And now it is time to leave. To return to the real world."
Max turned back to face Sharkboy and Lavagirl. He looked torn. "I did say I would go back out there to protect it."
The two nodded agreeingly, then turned to face the rest of the group.
"Thank you so much for everything," Lavagirl said with emotion. "I know Max would've eventually figured it out, but it sure was nice to have friends around." Sarox and Lavagirl held glances for a moment, and then she moved on to Marlene. The two shared genuine smiles.
Sharkboy held up a fist at Max G, who bumped it with his own. He shook hands with PJ. Sarox cast a sideway glance at Linus, who mostly stood in the background, looking unsure if he should join in. Sarox went to his side, put an arm around his shoulder and tilted his head in encouragement.
Linus's lips tightened in a thin line. His expression slowly sobered.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused," he finally said. "Max told me that it is better to keep dreaming rather than to stop believing in dreams. He's right."
Sharkboy and Lavagirl responded with a nod.
"You be a good dreamer now," Sharkboy warned. "I'll be watching you from inside Max's dreams. So if you do anything like that ever again, I promise I will - ow!" He yelped at the pain on his ribs inflicted by Lavagirl's elbow.
"Just ignore him."
After one last glance at everyone, the two turned back to Max. Long silence reigned the moment before someone broke it.
"So... how do we get out of here?" Max asked.
"Close your eyes."